Tax evasion. It'll get you every time.

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In 2016, she allegedly claimed her income was $31,020 and the tax due was $4,168, when in fact, Pugh’s taxable income was $322,365, with an income tax due of approximately $102,444.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/balt...5_null_headlines_hed

How could she be so stupid? Perhaps being part of a Democratic controlled corrupted city she assumed she would never be investigated?

quote:

Originally posted by c1steve:
How could she be so stupid? Perhaps being part of a Democratic controlled corrupted city she assumed she would never be investigated?

Well ..yeah .

Race card to be played in 3, 2, 1.

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:
Tax evasion. It'll get you every time.

Just ask Mr. Al C., late of Chicago.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
From 2011 through 2018, the University of Maryland Medical System ... placed five orders of 20,000 books at $5 each

What a wasted opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of people would have written and illustrated a kid's book for free just for the exposure.

Near' every scruffy bookstore employee loafing behind the counter doodling has dreams and potential to draw, write, and publish ...

quote:

Originally posted by Woodman:

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
From 2011 through 2018, the University of Maryland Medical System ... placed five orders of 20,000 books at $5 each

What a wasted opportunity. Hundreds of thousands of people would have written and illustrated a kid's book for free just for the exposure.

Near' every scruffy bookstore employee loafing behind the counter doodling has dreams and potential to draw, write, and publish ...

You don't understand - the books were inconsequential. Investigators found out later that many orders were not even delivered. This was basically a shell corporation setup to solicit bribe money from UMMS and others.

The writing was on the wall for Pugh when she just mysteriously disappeared and ceased all public appearances before resigning as Mayor. I can't wait to see how much jail time she gets.

I just love seeing these arrogant, witless democrat thieves get caught. I wonder how much of her potential 175 years of incarceration she’ll actually serve?

But shes a democrat....we don't prosecute democrats. They're just trying to spread goodness thru out the world that they want to control.

So much for the conflict of interest.

She Pleads Partially Guilty

Link

National Review by Zachary Evans

Former Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh pleaded guilty on Thursday to federal charges of conspiracy and tax evasion related to sales of her children’s book Healthy Holly, and pleaded not guilty to wire fraud, just a day after she was indicted.

In deals first exposed by The Baltimore Sun, Pugh sold her poorly-published book, which contained multiple grammatical and spelling mistakes, to the University of Maryland Medical System (UMMS) while she sat on the System’s board. Pugh made a $500,000 profit from the sales.

Health insurance provider Kaiser Permanente also paid Pugh $100,000 for thousands of copies of the book while simultaneously seeking a contract to insure Baltimore city employees.

The details of the plea deal were not immediately available.

David Jaros, a professor at the University of Baltimore School of Law, told the Sun that Pugh may have accepted the plea deal to gain some advantage with authorities: “the one thing a criminal defendant can bring to the table is information about other criminal activity.” However, Jaros said it was also possible that Pugh “just wants to resolve the matter and move on with her life and face whatever consequences she’s going to face.”

Pugh used the proceeds from her book sales to fund straw donations for her political campaigns as well as to pay for a house.

Prosecutors said they had been building a case against Pugh for years before the Sun revealed allegations against the former mayor.

Pugh had originally called the investigations against her a “witch hunt.” Thursday marked the first time Pugh admitted to wrongdoing in the cases. It remains unclear what punishment she will receive, although a prison sentence is possible.

some more detail

https://www.npr.org/2019/11/21...ildrens-book-scandal

The deal to plead guilty on four of the 11 counts she was indicted on sets Pugh up for a sentencing hearing scheduled for Feb. 27. Prosecutors said they will recommend to the judge that Pugh be sent to prison for five years.

Prosecutors accused Pugh of earning nearly $800,000 from a self-published children's book series known as Healthy Holly that promoted exercise and nutritional eating though stories of an African American girl.

But the problem was thousands of books that nonprofits and foundations ordered to distribute in schools and day cares to promote healthy choices and combat obesity were never delivered to the city's children.

Instead, authorities say she took books that were already purchased and resold them. Pugh then funneled those proceeds into her own political campaigns and used the cash to purchase and renovate a house in Baltimore.

In particular, Pugh had $35,800 in checks written for her books cashed and turned them into political donations in other peoples' names, also known as "straw donors," ahead of mayoral election in 2016.

"The straw donations purchased with the cash were then deposited into the bank account for the Committee to Elect Catherine Pugh," prosecutors wrote in the indictment.

Pugh's court appearance on Thursday was her first publicly documented sighting since March, when the Baltimore Sun first started exposing Pugh's questionable business practices.

Around that time, Pugh went into self-imposed seclusion. She did not even appear during a May press conference where her lawyer announced she was resigning as mayor.

The scrutiny led to Pugh leaving her post on the board she sat on for almost 20 years. She returned $100,000 to the hospital system for a book order she said was not completed. At the same time, Pugh called inquiries into her book deals a "witch hunt."

This vile bitch will be protected by the system, wait and see. 5 years (laughable) would be nothing like what anyone on this forum would receive for all of the above mentioned violations. If she sees a day of time in an actual facility, not a white collar country club, I will be shocked. I wouldn't rule out a work/prison from home deal like Epstein got either.

I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised but I'm not holding my breath.

quote:

Originally posted by gearhounds:
This vile bitch will be protected by the system, wait and see. 5 years (laughable) would be nothing like what anyone on this forum would receive for all of the above mentioned violations. If she sees a day of time in an actual facility, not a white collar country club, I will be shocked. I wouldn't rule out a work/prison from home deal like Epstein got either.

I'm hoping to be pleasantly surprised but I'm not holding my breath.

After all she is a Democrat.

She will run again for some other office and get elected.

https://hotair.com/archives/ja...heavy-financial-hit/

Former Baltimore Mayor Catherine Pugh may have to pay more than one million dollars in penalties in addition to other monies to the federal government in the ‘Healthy Holly’ book scheme that brought down her political career.

Federal prosecutors have come to no agreement with Pugh about what she may have to give up—although they want Pugh to forfeit her house in Ashburton

Pugh admitted: Taking books donated to Baltimore City school children and selling them to a Chicago-based investment group for their ‘swag bag’ at the Black Corporate Director’s Conf. They also paid almost $5k for her travel expenses

The feds are also looking to confiscate her fancy house in Ashburton

the house was apparently paid for with what’s being described as “an illicit six-figure check from a well-connected business leader.”

when the plea deal with Pugh was announced, there was also a sealed supplement. It’s expected that this means that Pugh has agreed to cooperate with other aspects of the investigation, potentially bringing in more people who have been self-dealing their way to fortune.

But we won’t find out about that. Whatever is in the supplement will remain under wraps. As the Baltimore Sun explains, that’s because of Baltimore’s famous “stop snitching” culture. Cooperating suspects and witnesses are so frequently targeted, including firebombings and shootings in broad daylight, that it was hard to get anyone to testify. Public filings would reveal the names of other people involved, possibly leading to their death.

So the city began attaching sealed supplements to every case, leaving the gangs to wonder if anyone was cooperating or not . So while it’s possible that Pugh is helping prosecutors, it’s also just as likely that the supplement is empty.

Our former Democratic Governor Rod Blagojevich is 8 years into "serving a 14-year prison sentence following his 2011 conviction on federal public corruption charges, including attempts to profit off of his power to fill the former U.S. Senate seat of then-President-elect Barack Obama." So Democrats do serve time!

https://www.chicagotribune.com...wmrx6azji-story.html

And the hits just keep on coming . . .

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Ex-Baltimore police commissioner released from prison
A former Baltimore police commissioner who pleaded guilty to failing to file federal tax returns has been released from prison Associated Press - February 15, 2020

BALTIMORE -- A former Baltimore police commissioner who pleaded guilty to failing to file federal tax returns has been released from prison.

Prison officials told The Sun on Friday that Darryl De Sousa was being transferred from federal prison to “community custody,” a supervised facility, such as a halfway house, for inmates preparing to reenter society.

De Sousa was sentenced last March to 10 months in prison after pleading guilty to three counts of failing to file individual returns, for the years 2013 to 2015. He told the judge who sentenced him that he was “humbled and ashamed.”

De Sousa resigned in 2018 after less than four months in charge of the city’s police department. He was appointed to the job by then-Mayor Catherine Pugh, who resigned under pressure last year amid a scandal over the sales of her self-published children’s books. Pugh pleaded guilty last November to federal conspiracy and tax evasion charges and is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 27.

https://abcnews.go.com/US/wire..._posts_headlines_hed

also last Thursday

https://baltimore.cbslocal.com...cing-recommendation/

US Attorney Recommends Nearly 5-Year Sentence For Catherine Pugh In ‘Healthy Holly’ Scandal

U.S. Attorney Robert Hur is recommending a nearly five-year prison sentence for former Baltimore mayor Catherine Pugh in the “Healthy Holly” scandal.

In documents filed with the court, Hur called Pugh’s actions in the scheme “a recurring pattern of well-executed steps that built on each other, becoming more audacious and complex leading up to the mayoral election.”

The former mayor pleaded guilty in November to four charges, including conspiracy to commit wire fraud, conspiracy to defraud the U.S. government and two counts of tax evasion.

“The facts establish that Pugh deliberately engaged in a broad range of criminal acts while serving as Maryland State Senator and Mayor of Baltimore City,” Hur said.

In total, Hur’s office is recommending a judge sentence Pugh to 57 months in prison.

According to documents, Pugh also lied to FBI agents who came to her house to seize her personal cellphone. They said she told them she didn’t have it and gave them a city-issued phone instead.

Agents then called her personal phone and heard it ringing under her bed pillow , according to documents.

In the documents, federal prosecutors also claim Pugh used her co-owned business called 2 Chic Boutique to launder a $20,000 check from local businessman J.P. Grant who had already contributed the maximum $6,000 to her campaign.

Court documents said Pugh was the majority owner of 2 Chics Boutique — and that her business partners were three other women with ties to Baltimore City government — one of whom WJZ has learned was Baltimore City Comptroller Joan Pratt.

WJZ spoke with Pratt on Thursday. She said she had absolutely no knowledge of the $20,000 check. She also said the bookkeeper prepared the taxes and she was not aware of the check.

Pratt stressed she had absolutely no knowledge of the check. She has not been charged or accused of any wrongdoing.

WJZ reached out to J.P. Grant for comment but had not heard back.

Federal prosecutors had been investigating her since February 2017. She resigned as mayor in May 2019.

Pugh’s defense team said they “strongly disagree” with the recommendation.

“Our position as to a fair and appropriate sentence will be laid out in a sentencing memorandum which will be made public pending order of court,” they said in a statement.

Sentencing for Pugh is set for February 27.

quote:

You don't understand - the books were inconsequential. Investigators found out later that many orders were not even delivered. This was basically a shell corporation setup to solicit bribe money from UMMS and others.

Yes, I understand fully. 100%. Completely. Fraud. Absolute fraud.

And pointing out a second, overlooked component. Wasted opportunity for artistic and literary expression.

With 50,000 members, I'm sure there are at least a few who would love to "get their start" writing a children's book. The next Roald Dahl, Eric Carle, J.K. Rowling, Beatrix Potter, or my favorite, Alan Alexander Milne, might have been discovered if given the opportunity to get published.